Broken Wings and Broken Hearts
by MissMusic17
Summary: The Flock takes a break in Ohio, where they meet others who claim they can help. But is 'help' really a good thing?Iggy/OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- This story has not one, but TWO authors! Yay! *****clap clap clap*******

**We are XxBlackEaglexX and MissMusic17. You will all bow down to our amazing awesomeness!**

**We alternate chapters. We'll let you know who wrote each one.**

**Please review! Pretty please with a cherry on top review!**

**D_I_S_C_L_A_I_M_E_R_!- None of the Maximum Ride characters belong to either of us. Even if we stand on our heads eating onion rings, they **_**still**_** aren't ours. **

Chapter One

_written by MissMusic17_

So, my life wasn't exactly going well.

We were somewhere over Ohio, and the kids wanted to take a break and stay in one place for a couple of weeks. Iggy was on board, while Fang and I were way too paranoid to actually stop in one place for any long amount of time.

We were starting to cave, though. It's hard for two people to hold off four others in an argument. The combined force of Angel and Nudge's Bambi eyes was devastating.

"And we're really tired, you know, plus, living on the run isn't very relaxing, 'cause we don't get a real bed, or a house, or more than one pair of clothes, or magazines, or bubble gum, or-"

I glanced at Fang. My eyes were begging him to let me agree so that Nudge would just _shut up._

He nodded.

"Fine, fine, okay, alright. Let's see what we can find." I said, interrupting Nudge saying something about the joys of TV and jewelry.

I felt weak for giving in.

_ABOUT AN HOUR LATER…_

"Look! A cabin!" shouted Gazzy, pointing downward.

We instantly spiraled into a lazy dive, checking and double-checking for any sign of people.

Zip. Zero. Nada. None.

We all landed, and began to look around our temporary home.

It had four beds, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. Water was about a two-minute flight from here, and the little clearing where the cabin was built was ringed in "food" trees.

Jeb had made sure we knew our plants. He didn't want us to try to eat some mysterious berry and die or something.

There were normal types, like oak, maple, and elms. I also saw a buckeye tree. I forgot how, but I think it was special to Ohio in some way.

But scattered through the normal trees were some edible plants. I was able to pick out cherry trees, crabapples, honeysuckle, blackberries, cranberry bush, and sassafras, which could be chewed like not-very-sticky-but-very-flavorful gum.

It seemed like a lot of edible plants around the cabin. The former owner had probably had a garden that went out of control after they left.

It made me hopeful though. Maybe Iggy could get some cherry pie going?

A town was only about twenty minutes away. It was small, but large enough for supply runs.

When I got back, around seven-ish, I was hit in the back with something small and hard.

I heard Gazzy's maniacal laughter, and spun on him, only to see his arms full of very hard crabapples.

Oh no.

I ran for it, getting beaned in the back over and over until I got to the cabin. I grabbed Iggy and used him as a human shield.

"If you try to hit me, you'll just hurt Iggy." I said, hoping the thought of harming his partner in crime was deterrent enough to keep Gazzy from launching another crabapple at me.

It wasn't.

Eventually, he ran out of ammo, and I got Gazzy to bed with the rest of the Flock before anything else crazy could happen.

Sadly, it didn't work that way.

The door burst open, revealing a human silhouette.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N****: Heyness! It's moi, xXBlackEagleXx! I am writing this chapter, and it's the first time I've ever done this...ever. So...yeah I don't know how this whole this is gonna go.**

Rissa's POV

I growled as something wet hit the back of my head.

I turned around to see Gina holding a water balloon in each hand, grinning evilly.

"You have 5 seconds to drop all the balloons and run before I put you in the hospital with a broken nose, Gina," I sneered, a death glare upon my face. Gina giggled and threw another one at my face.

I lunged, jumping over the back of the couch.

And landed on a skateboard placed right where I landed. Yay!

Gina screamed as I flew forward, my dirty blonde hair streaming out behind me, and my red and black wings propelling myself forward to gain speed.

I jumped when I was right behind her, landing neatly on top of her. She yelped and I grabbed a water balloon that had fallen nearby. I popped it and, luckily, this one was filled with...coke? What the crap? I sighed and threw the scraps of the dead balloon on the ground.

"Alright! I'm sorry! Just get off of me! Your hurting me!" Gina yelled, trying to push me off. I stood and offered her a hand, pulling her up. "I hate you." she said, glaring at me. I smiled. "No you don't!" She kept glaring.

I walked into the kitchen in our cabin. All the kitchen appliances were stainless steel and shiny. I walked over to the fridge and opened it, getting the stuff I needed for fried chicken. Gina hopped up on the counter.

"You know," she said,examining the eggs. "I would get better at cooking if you let me cook _sometimes__**." **_I snorted. "And risk burning down the house in the process? Nope, I don't think so."

She pouted and I continued to get the chicken coated in egg. Suddenly I heard someone walk into the kitchen.

"Evening, Oh Prince of the Night," I said, and recieved a whack in the head from a brown haired, blue eyed boy. Gina smirked.

I glared and dropped a piece of chicken in the frier a little too high up and oil flew everywhere. I growled and got a towl and a washrag. Ashen hopped off the counter to help me.

"You should be more careful, Rissa. You could of killed someone with your magical flying oil of death!" he said with a straight face. I punched him lightly in the arm.

"Uh guys? I think we have company." Gina said, worry clear in her voice. My head popped up and I peered out the window to see six figures standing outside, one was throwing rocks at another until it seemed to run out of them.

"Ashen! Stay here!" I ordered. Ashen nodded.

I ran to the door and flung it open with Gina behind me, and was amazed at what I saw.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- Greetings, people of the world! I believe that everybody needs a daily dose of randomness to stay healthy. So: yeast-filled torch walrus duck pink airplane.**

**While you figure that out, I'll get the disclaimer out of the way.**

**D#I#S#C#L#I#A#M#E#R#!#!#!- Neither me nor my buddy XxBlackEaglexX owns any of the Maximum Ride characters. We do, however, own Rissa, Gina, and Ashen. We wish we owned Iggy and Fang, but it just ain't gonna happen. The sad, sad, truth.**

Chapter Three

_written by MissMusic17_

Oh. My. Lord.

Well, at least that explained why some blind guy was flying over our house a few hours ago. We were quiet, though, and he just passed us by. Rissa had thought it was just another experiment; unusual, but she said that he'd leave, and our lives would continue as normal.

Rissa was wrong.

"Uh, guys? I think we have company." I choked out.

She watched as they went back to the other cabin. This used to be a camping area, but it went bankrupt, and nobody bothered to tear down the cabins. There was three, but the third had been smashed by a fallen tree in a lightning storm two years ago. I could still hear the crash.

Rissa tore open the door. Ashen and I followed at a distance. She seemed mad, and still had a knife in her hand. We were going to keep our distance for a while.

She flew silently to the other cabin; remembering to be quiet.

Rissa kicked open their door to find herself staring into the face of a girl. Her hair was brown and her wings were a bit unfolded, showing off a mulitide of colors.

The other five were asleep, but the brunette kicked the tall black-haired one. He awoke silently, and tapped the hand of a strawberry blonde. In a few seconds, they were all awake and staring at us.

Except for the strawberry blonde. I recognized him as the blind guy who had flown overhead earlier. His eyes were focused on Rissa's forehead.

I edged a bit towards Ashen. I hoped that this wouldn't come to a fight, but who knows?

My tiny movement brought the brunette's eyes to me. Staring me down, she practically spat.

"Who are you?"

Ashen answered. He probably didn't like her glaring at me. I could take care of myself, but he was protective anyway.

"That would actually be our question, seeing as we live here." His fierce face was so _cute!_

I tried to focus. This wasn't exactly the time.

After a minute or two of silent glares, I decided to just break the ice already.

I unfurled my wings from where they were folded against my spine.

Seeing the brunette's surprise, I tried to imagine this from her angle. She thought that they were the only bird-kids out there. Also, looking to my sides, I glanced at my wings.

I was used to them by now, after fourteen years of being among the winged, since I was born. But I guess if I hadn't seen them every day of my life, they'd be pretty weird . The tops were black, and the bottoms white. They kind of faded into each other, with a shiny silver in the middle. Really, they didn't look like anything you'd ever see on a bird.

I was a freak. But then again, that was my normal.

"I'm Gina, and this is Rissa, and Ashen. We're all about fourteen, more or less."

One of the younger ones stepped up. She was African-American, with really curly hair.

"Nudge. And this is Max, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel. We're all winged like you. Max, Fang, and Iggy are fourteen, I'm eleven, Gazzy's eight, and Angel's six. Did you get that way from…. experiments too? 'Cause we did, but we all escaped a few years ago, and-"

She was cut off by Gazzy's hand in her mouth.

Rissa relaxed a bit. At least, she dropped the knife to her side.

"Well, are you staying here permanantly?" asked Ashen.

"Of course."

"No."

Angel and Max had spoken at the same time, and Max gave Angel a look of fury.

"Well, it's kind of late, so we'll just let you sleep." Ashen again. So polite, even with potential enemies. He was never mean until they were _proven _enemies.

Rissa backed out awkwardly. Ashen had to give me a little shove to get me moving. I was curious about these strangers. Who were they, really? As people?

We flew back, silent in the darkness of the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okaaaaaay! Hey again! It is moi again! xXBlackEagleXx oh yeah! ok sorry. Alright well hey there and this is another chapter 'cause me and my buddy are in a writing mood apparently today! You would think that with no parents home and a brother always in his room I would do more than write and read. Well thats just me! live with it!**

**Give me a D! D! Give me a I! I! Give me a S! S! Give me a CLAIMER! CLAIMER! Whats that spell? DISCLAIMER!: Neither me or MissMusic17 own the awesome sauce Maximum Ride characters, and we are saddened by that fact everyday. We do, however, own Rissa(pronouced REE-SUH for anyone that said otherwise), Gina, and Ashen!**

**Max's POV**

I hadn't noticed Nudge and Angel fall asleep during our little rock war. Fang was only half awake, and Gazzy basically dropped dead after I told everyone I would take the first watch. It was only ten minutes later a figure appeared in the sky, then landing about 10 feet from us.

The girl had dirty blonde hair a bright green eyes. She held a knife and was glaring at us, tense. I glared at her. She didn't look away though like people would normally do after seeing my glare. I looked at Fang and kicked him awake. He got up, fully alert.

"Who are you?" I asked in my no-nonsense tone.

The brown haired guy answered. "That would acually be our question, seeing as we live here," he said, his face had a mean glare on it, but it wasn't as bad as mine or Fang's.

I stared at him and suddenly the blonde girl standing beside the boy moved back a little. She shook her shoulders and _opened her wings_. Wings that you wouldn't normally see on a regular bird.

"I'm Gina. And this is Rissa and Ashen. We're fourteen, more or less." she stated, looking at each of us in turn. The rest of the flock had woken up at some point in this little...meeting.

Nudge stepped up beside me."Nudge. And this is Max, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel. We're all winged like you. Max, Fang, and Iggy are fourteen, I'm eleven, Gazzy's eight, and Angel's six. Did you get that way from...expirements too? 'Cause we did, but we all escaped a few years ago, and-" she was cut of by Gazzy, who had thankfully put his hand over her mouth. The Nudge Channel was on mute...for now.

"Well, are you staying here permanenly?" The boy, Ashen asked.

"No," I answered at the same time Angel said "Of course." I shot her a glare and she smiled at me.

_We should, Max. They can possibly help us! They have powers too._ I snorted in my head (Is that even possible? Well I just did it so I guess so) _Yeah, right Angel. We should just trust them? I don't think so._ I looked at her, and her face was full of disaproval. _Let's just go meet them tomorrow. They seemed fine, just wondering why we were here, who we are, stuff like that. Ashen seemed worried about Gina._ I sighed. _Whatever, Ange. Just go to sleep._ After that I felt her come out of my mind.

I sat at the base of a tall tree and kept watch, doing 360's every couple minutes. I watched my sleeping flock, and though about what Angel said as the sky turned from pink and orange and red to deep purple. _They can help us. They have powers too. _How cold they help us? This thought haunted me until I woke up Fang for his watch.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N- Aloha World! Please review this story. My buddy and I would **_**love, love, love**_** to get opinions! We wait in earnest! **

**If you enjoy eating chocolate, you have good taste. If you enjoy eating anything sugary, you are awesome. If you enjoy eating live puppies, **_**get the heck away from me!**_

**D+I+S+C+L+A+I+M+E+R+!= Neither of us owns any of the Maximum Ride characters. We do think that Iggy and Fang are hot. But we don't own them. We do, however own Rissa, Gina, and Ashen. So back off of them!**

Chapter Five

_written by MissMusic17_

"Wake up!"

"Uunnnnggghhnnnyyyppp" I groaned. Why did she have to wake me up so early? Like at _noon?_

I opened my eyes to complete darkness.

Why hello world! I'm great, how about you?

I sat up, already listening. Max was trying to wake up Gazzy, while Nudge was already blabbing to Angel. Fang was leaning in the kitchen doorway, waiting for me to get the food going. I could hear him breathing.

Last night was so frustrating. Nobody was really talking or moving that much, so it was kinda hard to figure out what exactly had happened. From what I could tell, there was three other bird-kids nearby, all about my age. Ashen, Rissa, and Gina. I couldn't really figure out anything more.

I shuffled into the kitchen and started to fry some eggs. At least this place had a decent cooking setup. It was actually better than some apartment buildings.

After breakfast, Max stood up and clapped her hands together.

"Well, team, let's go meet these other bird-kids, shall we?"

We all followed her out the door, like ducklings after their mother.

When we found their cabin, I blushed. This was the area I was supposed to scout out.

We landed, and I brushed against Gazzy's belt loop, following him into the cabin.

* * *

Rissa was making eggs for breakfast, while I tried to get Gina out of bed. She wasn't exactly willing to wake up. After a while, though, I was able to drag her limp carcass out of the sheets. It went downhill from there; it was cold without the fluffy blankets.

She gave me a whack to the head, but it wasn't exactly painful. She was still groggy.

I followed my little zombie into the kitchen, where we were interrupted by a knocking at the door.

Must've been the others. I tensed up a bit. They _seemed _friendly, but you never knew. And I wasn't going to take even the slightest chance with anything if Gina could get hurt.

I gave her a glance. Still a bit sleepy, but she woke up a bit with our visitors. Rissa was trying to put on a face that didn't give off _I want to kill you _vibes.

I answered the door. Yep, it was all six of them.

Raising my eyebrows, I gave Max, who appeared to be the leader, a calm stare.

"…Hi."

I snorted. Hi? Really? "Come in."

I sat with Gina on her bed, while Rissa gave Max a trademark evil glare.

The other flock began to sit wherever there was room; on the counter, the chairs, each others' laps.

"How long have you been here? Which lab did you come from? Do you know about any others?" Max seemed truly curious.

"Well, that's quite a lot of questions." Gina. I nudged her hand.

Max just gave us a bemused look.

"We escaped from the Death Valley lab, have never met any other bird-kids, and have been here for about five years." said Rissa, who was playing with a fork.

"We came from the same School! It's kinda weird that we never met each other, but we have now, and I just wanna know-" Nudge again. This time, she was quieted by a kick to the leg from Iggy.

"Hey, we have some…documents we stole from the Institute, and we'd like it if you took a look at them." said Iggy. "I'll get them."

He walked out the door, leaving us in silence. I swear, you could feel the awkward.

But then, the quiet was shattered by a crash, followed by some very colorful swearing.

We rushed out the door, wondering what on Earth had happened.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** **Its an AN at 10:00 at night and i'm watching George Lopez. What do I say now?**

**Rissa: Disclaimer?**

**Me: Where did you come from?**

**Rissa: Well...I just randomly poofed up**

**Me: Awesome! Another captive!**

**Rissa: Must I do the disclaimer?**

**Me: I'm only gonna break break ya, break break ya heart! I'm only gonna break break ya, break break ya heart!**

**Rissa: I'll take that as a yes. DISCLAIMER: MissMusic17 and friend no own Maximum Ride people! Neither of them are Jimmy Patt!**

**Rissa's POV**

We rushed outside after hearing some colorful words and a crash.

"Crap! Ouch, man that hurts like crap!" Came Iggy's voice from about 8 feet away.

We all ran up to him, my little flock staying behind a bit, but we still wanted to know what was going on!

"What happened? Iggy! Are you ok?" Max asked, kneeling down next to Iggy, who was in a sitting position. He had his head turned looking at where his wings where, but not seeing anything. His fingers brushed gently over the wing and he grimaced in pain.

He was about to say something when Nudge let out a shriek. "Erasers!" she shouted, and Max immediatly shot up.

The Erasers where weird, mutant things. Weirder than us bird kids. When they morphed, they sorta looked like wolves, but not the fluffy _Twilight _wolves (**AN: Yes I just made a Twilight reference. Deal. With. It.**) They could morph back and look like a freaking modle, but they were pretty scary even then when you knew what they were.

"Gina, Ashen! Remeber what you learned and fight HARD." I told them. They both nodded, and got into fightning stances. One of the Erasers laughed.

"yeah, like you sticks could beat _us_. You probably couldn't kill a fly!" The one Eraser snapped, a sick grin on his face. I gave him a evil grin.

"try me, dog boy," I sneered. The Eraser growled and lunged. I dodged him easily and jumped, giving him a roundhouse kick to the gut. He doubled over but quickly got up, aiming a punch to my face. I grabbed his fist and twisted hard, causing him to spin around in mid air and fall to the ground on his stomach. I hopped on his back and cupped my hands over his ears, causing his eardrums to pop. He shrieked and I kicked him in the head, causing him to black out.

I got up and did a 360. There had only been a couple of Erasers, so we had taken them out easily. Max was helping Iggy up, who had a mask of pain covering his face. "What happened?" she asked him again. He shook his head.

"I was walking and suddenly an Eraser came out of nowhere and grabbed my wings. He bent one and it snapped. Broken." He said. Max sucked in a breath.

"We're gonna have to take you to my mom's..." she said, trailing off. For the first time, Fang spoke.

"Max, we can't. He can't fly and plane tickets are too much. Even with Angel...I don't think we should take him anywhere." Fang said.

Gina seemed to have regained the ability to speak, because she just had to think of a solution to their problem!

"Rissa can help him! She's a really good healer. She can set a broken arm and not make you feel anything!" she said. I glared. Max looked at me, her eyebrow raised.

"Can you? Can you really help him?" she asked. She was worried, it was clear on her face.

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I sorta have this power that can cut off senses and then you can't feel anything while I fix whatever problem you have. And I guess I'm ok at being a healer." I said, eyeing Iggy's wing, which was at an unusual angle, an angle a wing should never be able to be at.

Max gulped." Please help him. Please." She all but begged. I shrugged and nodded. "Bring him in the house. Make him sit on a chair backwards and extend his wing as far as he can without being in to much pain." i started shooting off orders and Max nodded. I motioned for Ashen and Gina to follow me.

We walked back to the house and I had Ashen create whatever I needed. Yup, Ashen had the power to create. I did all the stuff I normally did to prepare to treat someone or something. I walked out and saw Iggy with his head resting on the back of the chair, his wing hanging limply.

"Alright, Iggy. I'm gonna cut off your sense of feel in your wings. You won't feel anything, I promise." I told him. He nodded, but didn't raise his head. I concentrated on his wings, making sure I cut off Feel and only in that area.

"Iggy can you feel your wings?" I asked him.

"No."

I continued to work, putting the wing back so it was alligned with the other bone. I wrapped it quickly and tightly so it would stay. All this only took a little while, and when I was done, I asked him if he wanted me to give him Feel back to his broken wing.

"Sure." he said and I nodded.

"Try not to move your wing much. This might hurt, ok?" I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Just do it!" he said. I gave him back Feel slowly. He gritted his teeth, but didn't say anything.

"Remeber, no moving that wing. Sleep on you stomach like usual and don't lie on your back _at all_ unless you want your wing to hurt." I ordered. He nodded.

Gina walked in. "You ok, Iggy?" she asked, and he nodded. "Oh and Rissa I said they could stay here tonight if you don't mind.

"Fine. Make Ashen whip up some air mattresses." "Ok," she said, then walked out of the room, leaving me and Iggy alone.

Well, this is awkward.

"Thanks for fixing my wing. I woulda been screwed if you hadn't." He said after a while. I shrugged.

"No biggy. You guys would of been fine. Why don't you get sleep and I'll check your wing tomorrow, OK?" He nodded and left the room. I sighed and walked to my bedroom, falling face first into my soft bed. This was a loooong day. Thankfully it was over. I changed into my pajamas and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N- Hiya peoples! Just a random comment: is there such thing as a person who hates music? All kinds of music? I don't think so.**

**Stop calling, stop calling I don't want to think anymore, I left my head and my heart on the dance floor.**

**D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DISCLAIMER- Neither me nor XxBlackEaglexX owns any of the Maximum Ride characters. We do, however, own the awesomesauce that is Rissa, Gina, and Ashen. **

Chapter Seven

_written by MissMusic17_

The Erasers had scared me to death.

Well, not really the Erasers themselves; they weren't even a challenge.

But the way the other flock reacted to them; they were clearly enemies. At least Rissa hadn't exposed my secret like she had hers and Ashens. She had gone through the same thought process as me.

If they hated the Erasers, the flock would loathe me. I had to keep my talent a secret. But how long could that go on? If I never told them, and they found out, they'd hate me more. But I wasn't sure that I had the guts to tell them, even if that was the least painful route.

I dropped off to sleep, hoping maybe I'd have an answer when I woke up.

* * *

I was woken up by somebody crawling into the covers with me.

Ashen.

"Wha' time izit?" I asked, barely awake.

"'Bout seven. Everybody else is asleep."

Ugh. Way too early. I hugged Ashen a little bit closer to me.

"Are you gonna tell them?"

"I don't know. Telling them would be less painful, but I'm not sure I can do it."

He gave me a tiny squeeze.

"Well, if they end up hating you, we can probably fight them off. If we can't, then I could trap them somehow, and we could get away, relocate. Plus, there's always the chance that they'll understand."

"They never will, not like you do."

A tiny, tiny tear rolled down my nose. It fell to my lip, and Ashen kissed it away.

We'd never, ever kissed before, and now I wondered why not. It was _so _nice. He was gentle, kind of shy, really, but when I didn't shove him away screaming, he got more confident.

I fell asleep again in his arms, everything but him forgotten.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: We have **_**alot**_** of time in the summer.**

**Rissa: No homework, nothing**

**Me: And I'm not a normal kid. When other kids are having pool parties**

**Rissa: She is writing or reading.**

**Me: YUP! **

**D-I-S-C-L-A-I-M-E-R:Me and MissMusic17 don't own MaxRide. If we did, Fang wouldn't have left and Iggy would be MINE. We do own Rissa, Gina, and Ashen.**

**Me: And I own my awesome pets who I hearts much!**

**RISSA'S POV**

I groaned as my alarm clock went off.

Did I want to get out of bed? No. Did I have to? Yes, because without me, Gina and Ashen would starve and maybe even burn the house down. That wouldn't be good at all, now would it?

I sighed and got up. I walked to my dresser and pulled out a black skull t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I changed and walked over to the mirror in my room, grabbing a brush and yanking it through my messy sleep hair.

My room is pretty awesome. My walls are black with blue, lime green, and purple paint splatters everywhere. My bed had a black iron head board with hats, belts, and scarves hanging off of it. I had a tall dresser painted electric blue and a full length mirror in a corner by my bed. My comforter is purple with a urban design, flowers and birds weaved into a vine-like design. A lava lamp rested on the small table by my bed.

I walked out and dodged books scattered on the floor. Walking into the kitchen I was suprised at what I saw.

Iggy was standing at the fridge, gettting what looked like eggs, bacon, and other assorted breakfast items.

"What are you doing?" I asked, watching him juggle all the stuff he had gathered from the fridge and walk over to the counter, dropping it there and getting knives,.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making breakfast." he snapped. I just stared at him in disbelief.

"But your _blind_." I said. He snorted.

"Oh I didn't notice! I just thought that all the power went out around the world and the noone has gotten around to turning it back on. Thanks for pointing out the obvious." He said, and I glared. I walked over and grabbed the pack of bacon, slicing it open with the knife and putting some in the pan to fry.

Pretty soon we had sleepy eyed birdkids shuffling into the kitchen. Gina and Ashen walked in, all zombie-like. I laughed and told Gina to get some plates. She yawned and nodded.

Pretty soon we had a breakfast buffet of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and fruit. Everyone had attacked the food like hungry animals. I grabbed 5 strips of bacon and ran out of the room before I could become a birdkid pancake myself.

After breakfast we all drifted off to do our own thing. I ended up watching the news, checking whether it would be a good day to hike. Iggy sat down next to me on the couch.

I had numbed his wings so he could sit back without hurting himself. Don't ever say I'm not nice when I want to be.

I ignored him and continued watching the news. After about an hour, an annoying beeping started that drowned out the news caster's voice. A robotic voice came on.

"SERVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTYS,"It said before listing all the counties. Our county was listed, and I got up immediatly. I locked the doors and got flashlights and candles ready with matches by them. You could say we have had this happen beore, and our cabin almost always looses power during these storms.

Pretty soon the thunder boomed and flashes of lightning lit up the dark sky. I was nervous, I'll admit it. I hated storms, and I had a good reason to hate them. More on that story later though.

Angel apparently thought it was a good time to share our stories. Gina looked at me and Ash, her eyes wide with fear. I looked at her, then at Angel. I started.

"Well..."

**C: Please review! Constructive critisism is always good.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N- I'm getting mad at my radio. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT CAR INSURANCE CHEAP!**

**Anyway.**

**I stole Rissa from XxBlackEaglexX. Don't tell.**

**Rissa- I'm tied up in her basement! Save me!**

**Me- See? I'm so bad.**

**Voice in the Background- Hey, who's down there?**

**Me- Oh noes, it's her! Rissa, hide!**

**Rissa- HELP ME!**

**Me- meanie.**

**DMSICALEIR- We do not own the Maximum Ride characters. We do own the wonderful OC's that are Rissa, Gina, and Ashen. NO TOUCHEY!  
**

Chapter Nine

_written by MissMusic17_

"Well..." said Rissa, procrastinating.

I was terrified. This was it. Make it or break it. I gave Rissa a little nod. We had to do this sooner or later.

Her eyes flashed, sympathetic. They sent me a clear message: _I'm sorry._

"We never met because we were in a different wing of the school altogether. We were created before you, and the whitecoats considered us failures, because we weren't the mindless army they wanted. You are an 'improved' version of us." began Rissa. "They were already experimenting with Erasers by then. It took a while for them to get it 'right'"

She paused, giving me a questioning look. I curled into Ashen, trying to be invisible. His warmth helped me calm down a little bit.

I nodded again. I was glad she gave me a second chance to say no. Rissa really understood me.

She started up again. "There was four of us. I had a little brother named Hex. He was about a year younger than me." I saw her eyes tear up. Poor Rissa. She had loved him so much. "He could almost hex people. That's where he got his name from. His talent was kind of erratic; he wasn't very good at controlling it. But he'd almost….curse people. Give them bad luck." She gave a small, sad smile, probably thinking of the jokes Hex would play on us.

"Ashen was supposed to be all-powerful. He is, in a way, but he would never use his power against anybody unless he had to. The whitecoats considered it a malfunction. I was meant to be a weapon, cutting off feeling from people as we killed them. Like Ashen, I wouldn't do it. I healed the four of us after the experiments, easing the pain."

"And Gina..."

I braced myself. Ashen squeezed me close. I was all but melded into him.

"Gina was an early version of the Erasers."

It was worse than I thought it would be. A lot worse.

Fang scowled. Iggy started swearing again, and Angel looked scared, hugging Gazzy. Nudge was tense and afraid. Max was yelling and cursing. Then, they all lunged at me.

Within a second, I had six horrified, angry, and scared bird-kids leaping toward me, about to kill me.

I tensed up, preparing myself to fight them.

Then they slammed into an invisible barrier. I peeked at Ashen's eyes. Yep. They had gone from sky blue to a flat black. You couldn't even see the pupils anymore.

Praise the Lord. Ashen had just saved me.

He spoke in a flat, no-nonsense tone.

"She's not going to hurt you."

Well, that confused them. They were still ready to pounce on me though, right next to the barrier, waiting for it to show a weakness.

"Rissa, maybe you could explain a bit more." Ashen was at his scariest.

She took a deep breath. "Gina was on of the first Eraser 'prototypes'" she actually did air quotes. Rissa was able to cheer me up a bit, even in this situation. "They thought she was a failure, because she doesn't have that trademark Eraser bloodthirst. As you've seen by now, she doesn't have the overwhelming urge to kill." Rissa flashed me a small smile. She was good. I was getting less and less afraid every second.

"She's completely different. She can go all wolf. Not just wolfish. Gina sort of… shape shifts. You can almost mistake her for a real animal. Except the fur. She's silvery, like the silver in her wings." I unfolded them a bit as an example. "She doesn't have wings as a wolf. We don't know why."

"The whitecoats tried to train the bloodthirst into her. One day, when we were 8 and Hex was 7, the whitecoats decided to get rid of us. They put us in a gym-ish experimenting room and sent Gina on us, trying to kill two birds with one stone. We die, Gina gets vicious. Win-win."

She clenched her fists, remembering that day. "As I said, Gina is actually pretty nice. She never fights unless it's to save somebody's life. She waited until the whitecoats closed the door, then showed us a weak point in the window frame she had discovered a few months earlier. We were able to all escape together."

"We found this cabin about a year later. There was three of them. Two years ago, I got in a fight with Hex. I don't even remember what it was about. My last words to him were 'Get the out of here, and never come back!' he told me 'I hate you, so, maybe I will.'" She began to cry. I got up, and went to hug her. I knew that Rissa was stuck in limbo. She didn't want to remember, but she didn't want to forget, either. Rissa plowed on. "He didn't come back. Hex went to one of the other cabins to sleep. That night, though, there was a terrible thunderstorm. Lightning hit a tree, and it fell on the cabin. We weren't even able to find the body in the wreckage."

She broke into full-out tears. Ashen and I held her as she cried, and eventually the other flock filed out and went to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey! I got Rissa back from MissMusic17. I write this chapter. xXBlackEagleXx**

**Rissa: and why do I have to stay here?**

**Me: Your my OC. I created you.**

**Rissa: Fine**

**DISCLAIMER:We no own Max Ride charatcers, just dearly lovest them. Except Angel...we do own Rissa, Gina, and Ashen.**

**RISSA'S POV**

Telling them about Hex was terrible.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the memories came flooding back and over come with emotions. I hated that memory. I missed my brother everyday, and regret what I said to him.

Finally I couldn't hold in the tears anymore, and the came like waterfalls. I felt Gina and Ash put their arms around me and I cried until I couldn't anymore.

"Thanks," I said, whiping my eyes with the back of my hand.

"No problem." Gina said, hugging me again. I looked around the room.

"Where'd everyone go?" I asked.

"Bed," Ashen answered. They had set up the mattresses up in the small basement, since we didn't have alot of stuff down there.

I nodded and got up. "I'm going for a fly. I'll be back in a little while." I said, walking towards the door. I faintly heard their answering yeses before I was running full speed, then taking off.

It felt good to fly, feeling the cool air cool my face down. I flew for a long time, until I went to my lake. Only I knew about it. I jumped down onto the small ledge and watched the fireflies. I listened to the frogs croak and I was relaxed.

I didn't want to go back to the cabin, but I had to. I got up and brushed off my jeans, taking one last look at the small lake before taking off.

When I got back, everyone was in bed, as I expected. I looked at the clock on the television. It was 3:37a.m.

I walked to my room and into the bathroom. I took off my clothes and got into the shower, the hot water feeling good against my now cold skin. I opened my wings a little and let the water flow over the feathers. It felt good.

I stayed in the shower until the water turned ice cold. I turned off the water and hopped out, wrapping a towl under my arms. I walked into my room and put on my pajamas, but I wasn't tired.

I decided to search the internet. I turned on my laptop and pulled up Google. I typed in "Bird Kids" and I had random search results. I pulled up one that said "Fly On".

I read, and my eyes grew as wide as the planet, probably. Fang had a _blog_. I looked at the latest entry.

**Date: Already too late**

**Visitor Number:Your way up there, trust me**

**Yo,**

**So the flock and I landed in this old camp site, and have some...neighbors. Don't get me wrong, they're ok, but...**

**They have wings too.**

**Ok, so maybe I shouldn't have shared that. Anyways, there is three of them. I'm not telling you their names though. One of them fixed Iggy's wing though. He broke it. We have no clue how long we're gonna stay here, but until Iggy gets better, we're stuck here. Yay! Note the sarcasm.**

**Well. Nothing more to say.**

**Sigh.**

**Fly on,**

**Fang**

I stared at the screen. It seemed our company had a knack for blogging. Hmm. Ok then. As long as he doesn't do anything bad or give away info.

I shut down my computer and crawled in bed, and hoped I could get at least a couple hours of sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N-I'm soooo **_**tired! **_**I got like five hours of sleep last night…**

**But anyways, not that that keeps me off of my beloved fanfiction!**

**Lately, my mom's been looking at me really funny. Maybe she didn't realize exactly **_**how**_** addicted I am. I'd say life-dependancy addicted. But then again, aren't we all? Oh, I'm starved. Don't you love Rice Krispies? I only like them if I put some sugar in the bowl, because just Rice Krispies alone is pretty dry and flavorless. Disgusting. Speaking of disgusting, mushrooms. Mushrooms are ugly. Onions are pretty disgusting too. Thery're all-**

**OH MY LEAF, I'M TURNING INTO NUDGE!**

**!**

**D/I/S/C/L/A/I/M/E/R/!/- We do not own the Maximum Ride characters. We DO own the great characters of Rissa, Gina, and Ashen. And the song is Whataya Want From Me by Adam Lambert.**

Chapter Eleven

_written by MissMusic17_

I was so relieved. I was alive and un-beaten-up.

I wonder were Rissa went. She leaves like this sometimes, but we never knew where she went.

Anyway, I walked into the basement. I wasn't exactly sure why I wanted to see the Flock.

They were sprawled out all over the floor, sleeping. Fang was awake and using one of our laptops. I walked silently over to him, peeping over his shoulder at the screen. He was…blogging?

**Date: Already Too Late!**

**Visitor Number: Counter thing's still broken.**

**Yo,**

**So, big news today.**

**One of our neighbors told us something…interesting. She may or may not go traitor and try to kill us because of it.**

**I'm going to take a moment to answer some readers;**

**SilverTears4824-**

**Do they have any powers?**

**Yes, they all have a…power of sorts. I'm not telling what, though.**

**RuBbErDuCkY290-**

**What do the others look like?**

**Two girls, one boy.**

**ONEHECKOFARIDE-**

**Dude, why are you always so withholding?**

**ONEHECKOFARIDE, if I'm not, somebody from the School could read this. I don't exactly want them to find us, so.**

**That's about it for now.**

**Fly On,**

**Fang**

"I'm not going to kill you."

Fang jumped, surprised by my voice suddenly speaking into his ear. He turned around to see me standing behind him.

"Why are you here? It's like midnight."

"Truth or lie? It seems you expect lies from me."

His face went back to the emotionless mask I saw so much on him. "Yes, I do, seeing as you are a slight variation on our enemies. The Erasers have been trying to kill us for years. Now, we meet an 'early version' of the Eraser, who expects us to trust her."

"So, you want a lie?"

"Well, if you told the supposed truth, that would probably be a lie."

I raised my eyebrows. "Okay, lie. I'm here because there is a tribe of flesh-eating elves living in the walls, and I want to sacrifice Iggy."

His mouth turned up just a teeny, tiny bit.

"What do you want from me?"

Oh! A golden opportunity!

"Hey, slow it down, Whataya want from me?

Whataya want from me?

Yeah, I'm afraid, whataya want from me?

Whataya want from me?"

That song is annoying, so, prefect to burst out singing. Thank you, Adam Lambert, for the prefect weapon.

He answered with another song.

"Hey, annoying girl, Wantcha to stop singing that!

Wantcha to stop singing that!

Yeah, you're weird, Wantcha to stop singing that!

Wantcha to stop singing that!"

I gotta give the boy credit, he was pretty good. I cracked a tiny smile, then got serious again.

"So. Why do you have to blog about my apparent desire to murder you?"

He showed no emotion. The guy must have had a lot of practice.

"Because I honestly believe that you want to, and will probably try to, kill us."

"Talk about harsh. It's not my fault what I am, like you can't help having wings either. I have never killed in anything but self-defense, and I don't want to be a murderer."

With that little note, I spun on my heel and left the basement.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:So much like my buddy, I haven't gotten alot of sleep,**_** but**_**, its worth it when Flyleaf is epical.**

**Rissa:That doesn't make sense.**

**Me: It does to me and my ninjas**

**Rissa: Whatever**

**DISCLAIMER: Me(the Ninja Master and XxBlackEaglexX) do not own the epicness that is Maximum Ride. We do own Rissa, Ashen, and Gina.**

**Me: I own my awesomesauce Ipod, MooMoo, that currently has a crack in the screen. Sadness.**

**RISSA'S POV**

So, I said I _hoped_ I could get some sleep.

Well, I didn't get what I hoped for.

I got maybe an half an hour of sleep before my alarm was blasting.

Maybe I could throw it out the window...no, Ashen would kill me.

Anyways, I got up and walked into the bathroom, taking a handful of cold water and splashing it on my face. I ran a brush through my hair and pulled it up in a ponytail. I walked back into my room and picked out a random pair a jeans and a t-shirt.

I made my way down the hall and to the kitchen to get some cofee and bacon. I love bacon! It's so good and awesome!

Anyway, I walked into the kitchen and got the biggest cofee mug I could find while humming The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance. I grabbed the cofee pitcher thing and poured the cofee into my cup. I took a big sip and spewed it out as soon as it was in my mouth.

"Hot, hot, hot!" I shouted, putting the cofee cup down and doing this weird little dance. I ran over to the freezer and grabbed and ice cube.

I wasn't aware that anyone was watching -or listening- until they chuckled. I turned to see almost everyone in the kitchen watching my little show. Everyone was staring at me. I smiled.

"Good day to you, good sirs!" I said with an accent before salutting them. Ashen snickered and Gina rolled her eyes.

Angel and Nudge were trying to hold back laughter. Gazzy and Iggy had abandoned the idea and were cracking up. I glared at them.

So, after that, we made breakfast and did random things. Me, being sleep deprived, ended up crashing while watching Gearge Lopez.

I woke up to find we had pizzas. I smiled and got up, walking over to the table and snatching some slices. It was awesome.

The flock seemed weary about Gina. They wouldn't go near her at all. I glared at them when I saw them walk away quickly from her. It wasn't nice! She wasn't going to hurt them, she's not like that. She has never hurt us, or anyone unless she absoulutly had to, and that was only for self defence.

I sighed. Maybe in time they would accept her. I could only hope. Again with the hope! Sigh. I really want them to like Gina, to not be afraid of her. Maybe if I'm lucky they will.

Idea! We could probably _prove_ to them she won't hurt them! But how? I'll have to make a plan with Gina and Ashen...

**Ok, so not the best chapter. I was running out of ideas.**

**Also, to me Rissa was OOC, but I wrote her that way today. She **_**is**_** sleep deprived.**

**Anyway, Review? Even to say Hi is awesome!**

**Ok imma gonna go now. Bye!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N- Hello world! I've returned with another chapter! Yay!**

**And it's two bare feet on the dashboard,**

**Young love and an old Ford,**

**Cheap shades and tattoo,**

**And a Yoo-Hoo bottle on the floorboard**

**Prefect song on the radio,**

**We sing along, 'cuz it's one we know,**

**It's a smile, it's a kiss,**

**It's a sip of wine, it's summertime**

**Sweet summertime**

**-Summertime by Kenny Chesney. Fun to sing.**

**I LOVES SUMMER! **

**D0I0S0C0L0A0I0M0E0R0!0- We do not own the Maximum Ride characters. *sadness* However, XxBlackEaglexX and I both own Rissa, Gina, and Ashen! We control them! MUWAHAHAHAHA!**

Chapter Thirteen

_written by MissMusic17_

I sort of weirded out by Gina's visit last night.

I really didn't know what to think. She _was_ an Eraser, sort of. But all three of them claimed that she was harmless. We couldn't leave; Iggy's wing was still healing. But we couldn't fight them either. Ashen _was_ all-powerful, and Gina was probably stronger than a normal bird-kid.

Hah! A normal bird-kid. Wasn't that an oxymoron or something?

Anyway.

I really didn't know what to do. The only answer seemed to be trust, but I was in no way going to trust an _Eraser. _

I looked at her out of the corner of my eyes. She was sitting next to Rissa and Ashen, because we wouldn't go near her.

Her wings were sort of unfolded, and her blonde hair matched her feathers in a weird way.

She was evil, right underneath that shell of normalness.

I was sure of it.

* * *

I was sitting by Gina, keeping her company in this roomful of judgemental haters.

Iggy was listening intently to the TV, but he was facing me. Weird.

After about ten minutes of this, he got up and walked over to me.

"Rissa, can I talk to you? In private?"

"Sure. We can go in my room."

I got up, giving Gina a look saying, _you'll be okay with Ash?_

She gave me a tiny nod.

I led Iggy into my room, closing the door behind us.

"What?"

He looked uncomfortable. Like he didn't know how to start. He sat on the bed, and I stood above him.

"Um…thanks for helping me, with my wing."

"No prob." I waited. There was more than that.

"I know Gina's not gonna kill us. I trust you."

He did? Good. It was only a matter of time until the rest did too.

By now, Iggy was squirming, looking ready to peel of his skin.

Then, suddenly, he stood up, crossed the room to where I was standing, leaned down, and kissed me. Then he got an embarrassed look, and left, heading back to the living room.

His lips were so warm. I could still feel them on mine.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:We have a mouse in the house!**

**Rissa: Yes, a mouse. And she named it too.**

**Me: His name is Ash!**

**Rissa: He's knawing on the chair**

**Me: -Shriek-**

**Rissa: Kidding!**

**Me: I hate you. Now you have to say the disclaimer.**

**Rissa: No**

**Me: Rissa...**

**Rissa: Fine! MissMusic17 and XxBlackEaglexX don't own Maxride so don't sue!There!**

**Me: Happiness!**

**RISSA'S POV**

I was shocked.

I mean, wouldn't you feel that way if someone you barely knew came up and _kissed_ you?

And he's _blind._ That makes it all the more creepy.

I sighed and walked back out to the living room, not meeting Iggy's eyes.

As soon as I sat down,I felt someone poking me and I looked over to see Gina giving me her Tell-me-what-just-happened-right-now-or-I'll-get-Ashen look, which she used on me alot. _Tell you later_, I mouthed to her, and she nodded.

People where giving us weird looks. Angel looked like she was concentrating hard on something, Nudge was babbling non-stop about Justin Bieber, who had just appeared on the screen to sing his little songs. Man, when was that creature gonna hit puberty?**( AN: I hate him. I hate his songs. He sucks. Deal with it! That kid needs to reach puberty soon! & lets face it, once he does, his career is down the toilet. Carry on.) **Gazzy was trying to get Iggy to help him with a bomb, and he wasn't budging. Max and Fang had gone off somewhere...I have no clue where.

Ashen sat down next to us, happy and bubbly and just beong Ashen. He was totally obliviuos to the semi-awkward climate of emotions that was present in the room. "So, whattya want to watch? There's a Browns game on." He stated. That got some big dispute going about the Browns and the Steelers. Gina and I both liked the Browns, while Iggy, Ashen, and Fang where Steelers. Max ended up joining me and Gina. Angel didn't know about football so she just went with Max.

"Why do you guys like football? It's so icky!" Nudge said

I scoffed. "And that Justin Bieber isn't?" I asked. Nudge glared, and I smirked. Ashen yelled "BURN!" and I shook my head.

"Max? Can I turn the channel?" asked Angel. Max nodded and handed Angel the remote. She changed it to the news channel.

"And today we have Valencia Martinez here to talk about the work of the CSM." said the dude on the screen. I looked at Ashen and Gina and they looked just as confused as me. Max moved to the edge of the chair, obviously excited.

"Whose that?" I asked, staring at the screen, then back at Max in confusion.

"Max's mom. She works with the CSM. If she's there, that means she's in Ohio." Answered Iggy, sitting down next to me. I pulled my knees to my chest and tried not to touch him. He must of felt me move, because he scooted away from me a little bit.

"I have to call her! We have to go see her if she's here! Do you guys have a phone?" Max asked, and I nodded towards the kitchen. She got off the couch and ran to the kitchen, jumping and sliding over the counter and onto the floor. It was acually pretty funny. I laughed and shook my head.

"What's so funny?" Asked Iggy. "Max jumped and slid over the counter and fell on the floor." I said, bringing on more giggles.

Nudge came running back into the room after having left to get something downstairs. " What happened? I heard a big THUMP and came runnign upstairs!" Nudge said. MAx walked in.

"Alright guys! Mom said that she's staying at the Holiday Inn by Lake Erie. She said we can come visit her tonight if we want. Room 264." Max said. Well, ok then.

"Uh, Max? Iggy's wing is still broken. He can't fly, but Ashen could probably make a car or something pop up." I said. The excitment in her eyes faded a bit.

" Um...Ok. Fine. We'll drive. How far is the Lake from here?" Max asked. I shrugged. "Maybe about 30 minutes away." I said. She nodded.

"You guys...I guess you guys can come too. If you want." she said, looking at Fang, who looked at her with a look of disbelief.

"I don't know about that," I said." We don't know her. And-" I was cut off by Angel. "You guys know how to get there better than us. Come with us, please?" She asked, looking up at me. She was giving me Bambi Eyes. Crap! I cracked.

"Fine. We'll come." I said, and Angel clapped. Never, and I mean _never_, underestimate Bambi Eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N- Hey peoples! I can tell you for a fact, that if you text a friend about an obscure quote from Maximum Ride, and she actually remembers and recognizes it, you both have some serious issues with obsession.**

**Just saying.**

**Soooo… on a completely unrelated topic, XxBlackEaglexX was texting me today. She wants me to update. Gggggrrrr I say! GGGRRRRRR! *sigh***

**D`I`S`C`L`A`I`M`E`R`- Neither of us owns the Max Ride characters. We do own the wonderful sunshine that is Rissa, Gina, and Ashen. So you can just forget about stealing them, okay?**

Chapter Fifteen

_written by MissMusic17_

I felt bad for Rissa. I knew how she felt; this would be one awkward car ride. And it would take about half an hour to get there. But the Bambi eyes were impossible to fight. They were undefeatable.

Ugh. Might as well recharge my iPod now, while I could.

Going into my room, I decided to just pack now. Get it over with.

My room had purple walls, and I had hung scarves all over the walls and furniture. My bed was built into the corner of the wall, six feet off of the ground. It was round, like a bird's nest. And yes, irony intended. Underneath the bed was my dresser. I also had a desk with a laptop and all the stuff for writing and drawing. I loved my room.

I found Ashen waiting on my little birds-nest bed, with purple and blue suitcase for me.

"Thanks, Ash." I grinned at him.

I started to go through my stuff, picking out what to take. I'd only need maybe three outfits. I'd take four, just in case of a fight.

I felt breath on the back of my neck. I wonder what he wanted. I raised my eyebrows, knowing he'd see the movement from where he was standing.

"Want help?"

I wordlessly three pairs of jeans and some shorts into his arms.

"What are you thinking?" he seemed honestly curious. "Are you nervous, excited, annoyed, anxious, scared..?"

"This is going to be one heck of a car ride. Tension floating in the air, in a crowded car with almost-strangers, for half an hour."

He nodded as I threw my shirts at him.

"It shouldn't be too bad though."

I zipped up the bag, and jumped up onto my bed. Ashen leaped up with me, sprawling comfortably across the covers.

"I'm not sure whether or not to trust them." I told him.

"Why?"

"Fang has a blog, Max has a mother, and Angel seems like she's hiding something from us."

He nodded slowly. Ash picked up a piece of my hair and twirled it around, fiddling.

Strange. I had known him for six years, and he had done such things before. It was no big deal.

It felt a lot bigger now.

"I've missed having the house to ourselves." he said. "A lot more privacy, and a lot less tension."

"Yeah, me too."

I inched over and hugged him. Ash's warm arms held me. I felt a whole lot safer with him here. I could relax with him. He wouldn't lie, wouldn't hurt me. He'd do anything to keep the dangers of the world away. He was protective like that.

"Mmmmmmm.." I mumbled.

I feel asleep, feeling safe, for once.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Me: Lady Gaga is playing. I found out she was originally a brunette. I thank my cousin for that fact.**

**Rissa: She annoys me.**

**Me: Who does? Lady Gaga or my cousin?**

**Rissa: Both.**

**Me: Your so nice, Rissa. Now say the disclaimer.**

**Rissa: No!**

**Me: Yes.**

**Rissa: Must...resist the OMG**

**Me: WHAT!**

**Rissa: Apparently Lady Gaga was put on the Best Dressed of 2010 list**

**Me: THATS a shocker. Now, quit trying to change the subject!**

**Rissa: Fine! MissMusic17 and XxBlackEaglexX don't own MaxRide! **

**Me: Thank you! Good dog! Sit!**

**Rissa: I'm not a dog...-glare-**

**RISSA'S POV**

_Written by XxBlackEaglexX_

We were leaving soon. Yay?

Ok, so it's obvious I'm not happy we're going to be in a car. My guess of 30 minutes away was _way_ off. It's acually 3 hours. That was a fail so epic it was almost a win.

I was done packing my extra clothes in my purple and black duffle bag, zipping it up and throwing it by the door so I wouldn't forget it.

I walked out into the cold hall. Someone must have put on the AC, because the hall only gets cold when it's on. I shivered and walked over to Gina's room. Her door was shut, so I cracked it open.

I almost freaked out. Key word _almost._

I kept my cool, but my hand was covering my mouth to keep in the laugh. I was having mixed emotions right now.

I was almost laughing, because Gina had her mouth open, drooling. Shocked, because I wasn't expecting them to fall asleep. I knew that they liked each other, it was a duh kinda thing. The way they looked at each other made it obvious. Mad, because Gina's suitcase was only half full, and we leave in an hour. Ashen probably hasn't packed a thing yet.

I slowly looked around, taking in her room, compared to my room, which was littered with books and clothes. Her room, however, was neat. The books she owned were put neatly on the white bookshelf. She had nothing littering the floor, and only few posters on her walls. Her desk was neat and tidy, no papers or journals un-stacked or out of place.

I stopped when I spotted what I was looking for; Gina's blue hairbrush. I picked it up and tossed it. It landed on Gina's arm with a smacking sound, and I smirked as she shot up, looking around for what hit her. She saw me smirking, and lunged, causing Ash to fall off the bed and onto the hardwood floor.

"What was that for?" He yelled at the same time Gina pushed me down to the ground, causing me to land on my back and smacking my head against the floor. I started to see starts, but still pushed her off of me.

"Why'd you do that? A simple 'Gina, wake up!' woulda worked just fine!" She exclaimed. I laughed, causing her to get even more mad.

"But it wouldn't have been as much fun! And we're leaving in an hour. You need to finish packing," I said, and with that, Ashen and Gina both hurried to finish packing. I walked back into my room to grab my Ipod and bag. I picked them both up and walked out to the car.

Our car was a huge van. It easily fits all of us and our luggage.

I sighed and hopped in the back, everyone else filing in after me. Ashen had been chosen to drive, so Gina was in the passenger seat with Ashen in driver's. Max and Fang were in the row behind them, then Angel and Nudge, then Iggy and Gazzy. I got lucky and had thge whole back row to myself.

Angel turned around. "Rissa why don't you come up here and sit with me and Nudge?" Angel asked. Nudge turned around and nodded her head. 'Yeah! You should! It's sad that your sitting back there all by yourself. You seem lonely. And we can, like, talk about fashion and celebrities and puppies! I love puppies! They're so cute! I wa-" Nudge's mouth was covered by Gazzy's hand. Nudge started yelling, but it was muffled and it sounded like a bunch of un-intelligable mumbling.

"Fine," I sighed, getting up and crawling ouver the seats to get to them. I plopped down next to the window, and grabbed my ipod, turning it on and blasting it.

This was going to be a long trip.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N- Hello, peoples of the world! I am bright and happy today. You can tell, because I've been skipping through the house, singing Black Horse & The Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall at the top of my lungs.**

**My sister is getting annoyed.**

**I love music. C:**

**So, I've decided to stop skipping, and sing while typing! A real change of pace, right? A random note- This be the seventeenth chapter. It will be especially long, and hopefully awesome, because seventeen is my lucky **_**and**_** favorite number. Look at my screen name! *grin* So I wish you all a happy seventeenth chapter! **

**D.I.S.C.L.A.I.M.E.R.!.- We do not own Maximum Ride characters. We DO own Rissa, Gina, and Ashen, so give us some credit! Music mentioned- Good As Gone by Little Big Town, Black Horse & The Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall, Disturbia by Rihanna, and Mockingbird by Toby Keith & Krystal Covell.**

Chapter Seventeen

_written by MissMusic17_

Thanks a lot, Rissa. The car ride wasn't half an hour after all. It was _six times as long_, a three-hour drive! Big, fat, horrendous, terrible, slimy difference!

Adjectives are a good way to let out anger.

"Are you going to be okay?" Ashen asked me, after getting a glimpse at my annoyed face. I was sulking, but at least I was sitting shotgun with Ash. I felt bad for Rissa, sitting in between chatterbox Nudge and secret-keeping Angel.

I gave him a look of gratitude. "I'll be fine. Truthfully, I'm more worried about Rissa." I jabbed my thumb behind us. He peeked at the rearview mirror, and his eyebrows rose up a bit in sympathy.

I loved that face.

I saw Angel roll her eyes in the rearview. Ugh, that kid annoyed me. She gave off loud and clear I'm-not-telling-you-something vibes. We didn't know what her big secret was, but she definantly had one. I was going to find out what it was, but until then, and maybe even after then, she was annoying. Her all-knowing attitude, the way she seemed to challenge Max's position as the leader of their flock, and the way she had to have what she wanted. I had no clue how they put up with her all day, every day, of their whole lives. I guess it was just something you got used to.

I grabbed my bag, and unzipped it, snatching out a box with a purple 'G' on it. I opened it to get my iPod Touch and my headphones.

I was funny that way. I kept it safely locked in a wooden box. I wouldn't want to have my precious MyPod broken if I dropped my bag or something.

Nudge saw me, raised her eyebrows, and turned her dangerously unstoppable mouth on me.

"Why don't you have earbuds? Like, headphones are comfy, especially those ones you have, but they take up so much more room, and they're more breakable, so what's the point?, I mean-"

I sighed. We didn't often meet new people, but I hated these questions. They made me feel like more of a freak than I obviously was.

Ash gave me a sympathetic glance. He understood.

"My ears." I said, interrupting Nudge's rant on the convenience of earbuds. She gave me another questioning look.

"The whitecoats gave me ear surgeries. Six, over the course of a few years. I was born with a condition that made the bones in my ears a bit misshapen. I didn't even have ear canals. Clearly, they couldn't have an experiment with anything less than supernatural hearing, so hence the surgeries. Now, I hear even better than Rissa, but my ears are a little bit weirdly shaped. Earbuds hurt."

Nudge got a sorrowful look on her face. "I'm so sorry! I mean, I didn't even imagine, and you must think I'm so inconsiderate, but who would have thought? You never told us, and I never met anybody like that before-"

Ugh. I hated the reactions the most. They were always surprised, or sorry. I liked it best when people just went, 'Oh really? That's different. Hey, can you pass me the hot dogs? I'm still hungry.'

I've only met one person who was ever like that. I'll give you one guess who.

Really, it was no big deal. The past is the past, and it didn't change my life right now in any way other than the headphones, so the surgeries were nothing. All of us bird kids had gone through them, to some extent. I preferred it when people (ahem *Ash* ahem) acted like it didn't matter, because it didn't.

I sort of 'tuned in' to Nudge again, actually bothering to listen to what she was saying. She was leaning over Rissa, talking to Angel. Something about a unicorn named Charlie, who was 'the banana king' and how 'he doesn't deserve to have his kidney stolen'. Rissa looked about ready to commit suicide. I mouthed her a _Hold on. You'll survive this._ She shook her head, mouthing back to me, _No I won't. I'll hang myself first._ I grinned at her, and slid on my purple headphones, connected to my purple MyPod.

Clearly, purple is my favorite color.

"Oh, my sweet little MyPod, I love you." I crooned, stroking it.

Max gave me a disturbed look, probably because of my petting and talking to an iPod Touch.

"MyPod?" she asked.

I laughed. I loved my iPod's name. Yes, I named it. Don't judge me.

"Hex kept trying to steal it back when he was, um, still with us." my good feeling dissipated a bit, thinking about Hex. "He loved YouTube. So I was always telling him it was _mine, mine, mine._ I started calling it my MyPod to try to get it into his head that he couldn't just run off with it whenever he felt like it. It didn't work, but oh well." I shrugged.

Max got a classic 'oh' look in her eyes, and leaned back. Fang was smiling a little bit at my story of the MyPod. Seeing him, Max beamed, seeming to savor his smile. Then, she turned around, looking behind her, and started to yell.

"GAZZY! IGGY! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING? WHAT IF WE HIT A BUMP IN THE ROAD OR SOMETHING? YOU COULD BLOW UP THE ENTIRE VAN! PUT THAT AWAY RIGHT NOW!"

It sounded like they were engaged in their favorite pastime, the creation of bombs. I shrugged and faced forward, turning on the MyPod at long last. Max could take care of them. She did it every day.

I listened through Good As Gone, Black Horse & The Cherry Tree, Disturbia, and Mockingbird before I saw the astonished look on Max's face in the rearview.

Whoops. I must have been singing without even noticing. I had a habit to sing at the top of my lungs when I listened to music. Embarrassing.

I blushed and paused the MyPod, pulling the headphones down to rest around my neck.

"Sorry, it's a habit. I didn't even know I was singing out loud-"

"OMG GINA THAT WAS EPICAL!" shouted Nudge.

I was confused. I had no clue what the heck she was talking about. I wasn't a very good singer, just average. And I had been belting out my annoying music and assaulting their ears. It was probably pretty loud in this huge car.

"Yeah, you're a really good singer! Why didn't you tell us?" said Gazzy.

"I'm not a good singer. There was nothing to tell." I said. What had gotten into them?

Fang looked stunned. "You could be a professional."

Okay, maybe I was wrong all my life about being an average singer. Fang barely ever talked, and he didn't trust me. So, a compliment coming from him was pretty high. I blushed, embarrassed by all the attention.

Then, Rissa came to my rescue, praise the lord. She put down the window, and pointed at a car passing us, a Black GMC Topkick. Now, remember, we're on the highway. Rolling down a window made a _lot _of noise. Of course, Rissa yelling at the car didn't make it any quieter.

"OMG! IRONHIDE! THE 'HIDE HAS COME!"

The poor driver looked weirded out. He seemed to understand, though. He was probably a Transformers fan, like Rissa. But then, irony decided to join the party too. A blue and red semi truck pulled up behind the Topkick 'Hide, and Rissa just about had a heart attack.

"OH GOD, IT'S OPTIMUS PRIME TOO! I CAN DIE HAPPILY NOW!" She was waving and pointing and generally going nuts, her arms hanging completely out of the window. I thought she might be having a seizure and was losing control of her arms.

I'd say she was losing control of her mind too, but she was always like this with Transformers. She worshipped them.

We all started laughing at the semi truck driver's face. It was hilarious.

_ABOUT FORTY MINUTES LATER…._

"WHAT THE HECK, GAZZY!"

"Why us? Why?"

"Gah! Make it stop!"

"Awesome man! That's a new record!"

Okay, we were in an enclosed space with Gazzy. You can probably figure out what happened.

Ash made a _bleh_ face and turned up the AC as far as it would go, hoping to disperse the smell. I swear, it was like something evil had just died in the car. I opened the window and stuck my head out, not caring about safety issues. Gazzy was a safety issue.

After maybe ten minutes, Ash tapped my arm, letting me know the car was safe again. I pulled my head back in, my cheeks flushed red and my hair blown back into loose waves. I felt great. The accursed smell was gone, and I like the feeling of the wind in my hair. It reminded me of flight.

Ashen gave me a funny look, and the car swerved to the right, almost driving right off the road and into the trees on the edge of the highway. I leaped forward, wrenching at the steering wheel, and pulled us back onto the lane. Ash didn't seem to comprehend that we almost died. He seemed dazed. I slowly pulled over to the side at a safer speed, and stopped the van.

"What happened, Ash?" I asked, confused. He was always focused on whatever he did. Ash wasn't one to get distracted. I never would have thought he was even capable of losing control of a car. He was too safe for that, too careful to get in an accident.

He shook his head, as if trying to clear it. "N-Nothing. I was just distracted." He slowly started to drive again, and I narrowed my eyes. He knew that I knew that he didn't easily get distracted.

Then, Nudge burst out, "Wow, you guys are so intense and dramatic! It's like watching a soap opera! I don't watch them often, being on the run, but I like-"

And our car ride went back to normal.

After about another chaotic hour and a half, we saw the first sign.

"Cleveland, 50 Miles." read Ash.

"Praise the Lord! We're almost there!" yelled Rissa, who was at the end of her rope, dealing with Motormouth Nudge and Creepy Angel.

It was Fang who saw the next sign. "Cleveland, 25 Miles."

Max looked ready to leap out of the car the second we stopped. Fang slipped his hand over to squeeze hers, instantly getting Max to calm down a bit. It saddened me to see it. They clearly had something going on. I wished I had somebody like that, who knew me through and through, would do anything for me, loved me, and I him.

Somebody like Ash, but we didn't like each other that way. Oh Lord, I wish, but he didn't love me like that.

I was interrupted by my mental tirade on loneliness when we drove up a ramp, officially entering Cleveland. About five minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of a Holiday Inn, and Max leapt out of the car and into the waiting arms of a dark-haired Hispanic woman, who I assumed was Dr. Martinez, Max's mom.

My throat tightened. My parents were dead. I knew, had always known. Max was so lucky. Romance, a parent, and none of her flock dead.

I envied her.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I love that theme song...**

**Rissa: Which one? There's like a million of them.**

**Me: The one in **_**Transformers**_** 1&2 makes me happy. The one that plays when Optimus Prime is on screen or he says "Autobots, roll out!" I say that when we get in the car...**

**Rissa: Your obsessed.**

**Me: No, I just love it more than you.**

**Rissa: Nuh uh! I love it more!**

**Me: I created you. You didn't even know of your love till the 17th chapter! I told M/M to put that in!**

**Rissa: 'Cause you want that Topkick.**

**Me: Yes, I am in LOVE with that truck. Onward to the Disclaiming!**

**Rissa: Oh joy...**

**D*I*S*C*L*A*I*M*E*R: MissMusic17 and I, XxBlackEaglexX, no own Maximum Ride, or any songs, movies, TiVo shows from the past, or some of the awesomesauce cars that may be metioned in future chapters or maybe this one. We basically don't own anything. At all. Sadness :(**

**Claimer!: We own the semi-annoying Rissa. we also own Gina and Ashen**

**Rissa: hey! I'm not annoying!**

**Me: You are to me...Onward with the story!**

**RISSA'S POV**

_Written by XxBlackEaglexX_

This was torture. Pure torture!

Why did I accept the offer to sit with the motormouth and creepy 6 year old?

I have no clue.

After I had sat down, Angel decided she wanted the window seat. So, being the nice person I was, I gave it to her. I didn't realize at the time though that I was going to be sitting in the middle of them. Hey! My brain wasn't processing right! I didn't notice!

So, after about ten minutes of listening to my iPod, it suddenly cut off. I looked down and kept pressing the Home button like a maniac. My precious MooMoo was dead! It was charged last night!

Someone (Cough *Ashen* cough) probably used it for the internet and let it almost die but didn't bother to put it on the charger. I threw it up to Gina and motioned for her to put it on the car charger.

She looked back at me and mouthed _Hold on. You'll survive this! _I shook my head. Yeah, right. My ears where going to explode first, _then _I'll die. _No I won't. I'll hang myself first._ I mouthed back. She grinned at me and turned away, pulling out her iPod.

I sorta zoned out after that, only moving to bend down and get a random book from my bag. I could faintly here Gina tell her iPod she loved it. She is so _odd_ sometimes...

Then Nudge asked a question about Gina's headphones. I sighed. Gina had surgeries for her ears, and when I heard the story I had been like "Oh. Ok...do you like cupcakes?" or something like that as a response. Gina was telling Nudge about it, who responded with a "OMG I'm so sorry!"

The thing about Gina is, she hates those kind of responses when people here what happened. She'd rather have people just act like it didn't matter. She was still awesome and Gina no matter what.

I sighed and opened the book. Gina had started singing loudly, like she normally does when listing to music. After about 20 minutes or so, she stopped. I looked up to see why it stopped, and Gina was apologizing.

"Sorry, it's a habit. I didn't even know I was singing out loud-" she was cut off by Nudge's shouted praise.

"OMG GINA THAT WAS EPICAL!" Nudge shouted, a huge grin on her face. Epical...hmm...hey! Thats my word! She took it!

"Yeah, you're a really good singer!" Added Gazzy. "Why didn't you tell us?" I shook my head slightly. Gina, Gina, Gina...

Speaking -Well, more like _thinking_- of Gina, she spoke, telling them she was only OK, and that there was nothing to tell, so she hadn't metioned it. Truth is, she _is_ a good singer. Really good, acually. I envied her sometimes.

I snapped my head up when I heard Fang speak. "You could be a professional." He stated. So, Mr. Emotionless Brick Wall wasn't mute. Whoa, that was an accomplishment! Well, maybe it is true. You learn something new everyday.

I could see Ashen tense, his hands gripping the steering wheel harder, causing his knuckes to turn white. He glanced back in the mirror, and I gave him a look that said "Calm down". He calmed down a bit, and I looked out the window.

I rolled it down, leaning over Angel with a big grin on my face. Next to us on the road, was one of my many dream cars, and favorite cars of all time. It was a black GMC Topkick that looked EXACTLY like Ironhide! I LOVED Transformers! The Weapon Specialist was one of my favorite Autobots!

I leaned far out the window, pointing madly at the truck. "OMG ! IRONHIDE! THE 'HIDE HAS COME!" I shouted. The driver looked freaked, but I didn't care. It was MY truck! My beautiful truck! And I think someone up above wanted to make me even happier, 'cause just then a blue and red flamed Peterbuilt Semi truck pulled up behind the Topkick.

"OH GOD, IT'S OPTIMUS PRIME TOO! I CAN DIE HAPPILY NOW!" I shouted, my arms waving madly. I stared at the two beautiful vehicles until they left the highway, and I was happy. I loved Transformers. A lot. I was obsessed acually. I watched all the TV shows they had, both the movies more times than I can count, have dogtags, shirts, even a pillow and pillowcase. and a blanket. And PJs. I acually packed those...

Anyway, I loved them. The movies acually got me into cars, especially the Camaro they used in the movies. I sighed happily, then sat back down in my seat. I said sorry to Angel, who I almost squished to death.

Soon, the car was filled with the most horrendous odor on the face of the Earth.

"WHAT THE HECK, GAZZY!"

"Why us! Make it stop!"

"Awesome man! That's a new record!" What the crap? Boys are so dang gross...

Gazzy had showed off why his name is what it is, and it was HORRIBLE. Gina had shoved her head out the window while Ash cranked up the AC in the car. I put my shirt over my mouth and nose, breathing in the scent of the good-smelling laundry detergent.

Soon, the car wasn't toxic and we could all breath again. I turned around and glared at Gazzy, causing him to cower in fear into the seat.

Of course, the adventures weren't over yet. Ashen seemed to has zoned out, and the car flew over to the right, cusing me to fly into Nudge, then Gina yanked the steering wheel back over so we were in the right lane, which caused my to fly into Angel.

I was shocked, because Ash didn't get distracted like me or Gina, a perfect example of me being the replicas of Ironhide and Optimus back there.

"What happened, Ash?" Gina asked, placing a hand on his arm. He looked at her, his eyes wide. "N-Nothing. I was just distracted." he answered, starting to drive again. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. I was going to talk to him later.

Nudge started comparing us to a soap opera, and I had to fight the urge to not get my duct tape.

About an hour later, Ash read the sign that made me want to dance like a ballerina in a field filled with sunshine, but why would I do that? Angel giggled and I looked at her weirdly.

"Cleveland, 50 miles," read Ash. I smiled.

"Praise the Lord! We're almost there!" I yelled, doing a little happy dance.

30 minutes later, Fang read the next sign. "Cleveland, 25 miles." He said. I was excited now. Only 25 more miles of this! Thank you!

When we pulled into the Holiday Inn a while later, Max made a beeline for a Hispanic looking woman, running into her arm with pure joy on here face.

Max was lucky. She had a mom and all her flock. I envied her now.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N- Greetings, Earthlings! I tend to write very short chapters, but after my celebratory long seventeenth chappie, I've discovered the joy of writing long chapters. So, I hope you like 'em long!  
**

**Hey, please review. We'd love to know what you think. Good, bad, ugly, llama…?**

**This is for the ones who stood their ground,**

**For Tommy and Gina, who never backed down,**

**Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake,**

**Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks.**

**It's my life,**

**It's now or never,**

**I ain't gonna live forever, **

**I just wanna live while I'm alive**

**-It's My Life by Bon Jovi**

**That there is a quality song. And it has Gina in it, so we'll have to put the name Tommy in this chapter! **

**D;I;S;C;L;A;I;M;E;R;!;- We do not own Maximum Ride! We do own Rissa, Gina, and Ashen. They were created by our sick, twisted, little minds. We also do not own Holiday Inn, or**

Chapter Nineteen

_written by MissMusic17_

After a major hug fest and some very awkward introductions, we followed the Dr. Max's Mom into the hotel. The front desk was manned by a guy who looked like he was about seventeen, with brown hair, and the body of a football player. He was listening to an iPod Nano and doodling on a piece of paper. We had to check out another room or two; Dr. Max's Mom didn't have nearly enough room for all ten of us. The Doctor would've been able to rent under her name, as she did for the other flock, but we take care of ourselves. We don't need adults to help us. So, I marched up to the front desk, armed with money from Ashen. (Counterfient, but he could make it pretty realistic. We haven't been caught yet.)

"We need another room, please."

He glanced up at me, looking surprised. He probably hadn't noticed us walk in. The guy had a name tag. Tommy, apparently. Tommy took out his earbuds, and looked me up and down.

"You have to be an adult to rent a room."

I narrowed my eyes. I was fourteen, and looked seventeen, but still, he wasn't gonna let me rent. Curse you, Tommy.

"Listen. I need a room. I have money." I waved the wad of cash in his face. "And if you won't let me have a room, you're gonna need a ride to the hospital."

He was calm, unruffled. Either this Tommy guy was confident, or dumb. He gave me a calm stare, and pulled out a pack of gum, popping one in his mouth. The message was clear; You don't scare me.

"You need to be an adult. You can't have a room."

A red wave of fury washed over me. I had sat in that crazy car full of nuts for three hours to meet a woman I didn't know, and I was not going to let this blockhead keep me from a warm bed tonight. I leaned over the counter, grabbing his shirt and pulling Tommy the Idiot forward, so my nose was practically touching his.

"Listen to me. I have had a long, stressful day, and I am about ready to punch your face in if I do not get a room." I tried to sound as menacing as possible, but he still wasn't shaken.

"No. Go away, you can't rent."

I shoved him back, but that football player build kept him from actually hitting the floor. I put my hands on top of the counter, and leaped up on top of it. I crouched, trying to look threatening. Maybe he'd back down.

Nope.

I tensed, ready to leap at him and give Tommy the beating of his life, when I felt Rissa grab me from behind and pull me off of my countertop perch. Darn. Ashen dropped a wad of cash on the counter, easily twice the needed amount, and grabbed a room key.

"Thanks." Ash had the best voice…

Rissa dragged me away toward the elevator. She hissed into my ear, angry and proud at the same time. "Pick your battles."

The others were on the second floor with the doctor, while we were up on the fourth floor.

Rissa snatched the key from Ash, burst out the elevator, and ran down the hallway. She probably wanted to be the one to unlock the door. I rolled my eyes.

Once Ash and I caught up, we found her spread out across a bed. The room was typically hotel. One bathroom, two beds, a couch, and a TV with bad reception. The floors were hardwood though, praise the lord. Carpets were dirtier.

I took a running start and jumped on the bed next to Rissa. "I think we can officially call you insane." I told her.

Rissa grinned. "But insanity's so fun!" I smacked her.

Pulling the MyPod out of my pocket, I saw that it was about eleven, almost midnight. "I call first shower!" I yelled, earning myself a whack on the head from Rissa and a rueful smile from Ash. Hhhmmm, so they enjoyed being clean and showered? Too bad.

I locked the door, and showered, making it loooong and hot. I enjoy hot showers. And depriving Rissa and Ash of water is fun too.

There they were, banging on the door, right on schedule.

"GINA! YOU TOOK ALL THE WATER AGAIN! LET US IN THERE RIGHT NOW OR WE WILL KILL YOU!"

I grinned to myself. "You wouldn't kill me. You love me too much." I said sweetly.

"UNLOCK THE STUPID DOOR!"

"No can do. I'm not dressed yet. Gosh."

They groaned, and I was sure to take my sweet time brushing my teeth to perfection and smoothing every last wrinkle out of my pajamas. Eventually, I ran out of things to pretend to do. I braced myself, and unlocked the door, leaping out of the way just in time to avoid being trampled by Rissa and Ash, who were ready and waiting. I saw a huge problem, though.

"Hey, guys, who's going first?" I asked, which started a whole new round of arguing, which Rissa won, because Ashen is just generally a generous person.

I love him so much. Why did this have to be so hopeless?

I plopped down on the bed, flipping through the fuzzy channels on TV. Why couldn't we at least get good reception? Cheapskate hotel people. I felt Ash lay down beside me, but didn't acknowledge him. He'd say something, or we'd just sit in silence. Either way was fine with me. I just liked being with him.

I also liked his arm draped over my shoulder, which he proceeded to do. We just sat there, watching TV.

* * *

I couldn't believe Gina. She literally took _all _the hot water. I was shivering within two seconds.

I finished in record time, not wanting to stay under the freezing water longer than necessary. I peeped in the main room to see Ashen and Gina passed out on one of the beds. I'd say it was cute, but I was still furious with Gina. I was glad they were asleep, though. Prefect.

I slipped out the door. I needed Iggy's advice. Gina was _so_ going to pay for this.


	20. Chapter 20

**A:N Hello peoples!**

**Rissa: Blahh**

**Me: Your a meanie**

**Rissa: I know**

**me: I hear a car alarm**

**Rissa: Its your mom's car**

**Me: Crap...**

**Rissa: OOH! I have to ask you something!  
Me: Oh man...**

**Rissa: What does Zac Efron say when your constipated?**

**Me: What Rissa*sigh***

**Rissa:*Singing* You've got to work, work, work it out!**

**Me: I hope you didn't offend anyone**

**Rissa: Me too...**

**DISCLAIMER: Me and MissMusic17 don't own Maximum Ride or that song up there.**

**CLAIMER!: We do own Rissa, Gina, and Ashen. Rissa needs to be given away, but I don't want to! She's MY OC! MINE!**

**Me: On that happy note, lets continue!**

**RISSA'S POV**

_Written by: XxBlackEaglexX_

I slipped out of the room after putting on some shoes.

I was walking down the hall and pressed the down button on the elevator. It seemed to take a millenia until it opened finally. I pressed the "2" number and it lit up an orange color. Ooh...pretty.

As soon as the doors opened, I ran out, trying to escape the small space and bad elevator music. I walked down the hall until I found the room I was looking for, and knocked.

Fang opened the door.

He seemed surprised I was here, wearing my blue Transformers PJ pants with a cartoon Optimus Prime on them with a red tank top and flip flops.

"Um..Rissa? What are you doing here? It's like 2a.m." He said, looking back to check the clock.

"I need to talk to Iggy. Now. Question me and I feed your soul to the Dorkenschnider bananas from the planet Bluetopia." I stated, crossing my arms over my chest. He raised an eyebrow, but motioned for me to come in.

"IGGY! I NEED YOU HELP!" I half-yelled. He almost fell out of the chair he was sitting in I was so close to his ear.

"God, Rissa! You didn't need to yell!" He yelped, standing up. I smiled. "Yes, I did. It was fun to scare you." I said, and he rolled his sightless blue eyes.

"Alright then. What do you need my help with?" He asked. I grinned. "A prank. Revenge. Gina took all the hot water. I want to get her back. It is _not _fun to shower in cold water, dude!" I said dramatically, grabbing his shirt and shaking him.

His face lit up. "Ok. I'll help." he said, prying my fingers off his shirt.

"What do you have in mind?" He asked. I thought about it, and then whispered it in his ear. He grinned. "Excellent! We can put it to action tonight, my little grasshopper!" He said, and I narrowed my eyes. Why the heck did he call me his little grasshopper? Maybe he had too much cold medicine...

(No clue how to do the line thingy! wee!) 

I grabbed the stuff we needed and met Iggy at our hotel room. I took the pass-key out and put it in the door. It opened loudly, but luckily Gina and Ash where deep sleepers sometimes. I hope this was one of those nights...

I led Iggy into the bathroom and I got into the bathtub. I unscrewed the shower head and had Iggy give me the Lifesaver candy. Red! Such a good flavor of Lifesaver!

Anyway, I put the candy in the pipe that led the water to the shower head. I screwed the shower head back on and got out of the tub. I gave Iggy a high five, and we started snickering.

"This is gonna be awesome!" I whispered. He nodded with a smile. I couldn't help but smile back.

"You're going to have to tell me her reaction later." He told me. I nodded, only to realize again he couldn't see me.

"I'm nodding, Ig," I said, and he smiled, and we exited the room quietly. I led him back to his room, and he opened the door.

"Thanks for helping me." I said awkwardly. He looked at me, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No problem. Pranks are always fun…" He said, trailing off. We stood there for a few minutes before I leaned in and kissed his cheek quickly.

"'Night," I mumbled before rushing off, my face turning bright red. I didn't turn around to see his reaction

I'm pretty sure it was either a WTF reaction, he freaked out in a bad way, or he was like "Yes!" maybe. I don't know, but it was probably the first one.

Why the heck did I do that? I don't know. Don't ask, because I won't know the flipping answer. I walked into the room and crawled into the empty bed, and tried to fall asleep, thinking about what just happened.

_*The Next Morning*_

I woke up the next morning and made coffee. I woke up Ashen and Gina, handing them each a Styrofoam cup of the crappy hotel coffee.

I walked over to Gina and "tripped" making me "accidently" spill the coffee on her hair. She screamed and ran into the bathroom, turning on the shower to full blast. Perfect.

Twenty minutes later, Gina came out of the bathroom, and I was trying to keep myself from laughing. Her hair was red and in a sticky mess, she had a thin layer of red all over herself, and she was ticked.

"RISSA! WHAT THE HADES DID YOU DO?" She shrieked, causing me to roll on the floor laughing, clutching my stomach. She growled and glared at me.

Ashen walked in, and stopped after she saw Gina. "What…happened?" he asked, trying to smother the amusement in his voice.

"Rissa screwed with shower now I'm red and sticky!" She exclaimed. I laughed even harder. Ashen glared at me and it shut me up. The kid can have a scary glare if he wants to…

"Gina, go ask Max if you can use their shower. Rissa, fix ours. _Now._" He growled. I nodded and got up.

"I swear, Rissa. If I didn't want this gump out of my hair now, you'd be in deep sh*t." she said, stomping out of the room.

_I'd _be_ in some deep sh*t? Then what the heck am I in now…?_ I thought. Yeah, I better prepare for the whole speech. Time to get my Ipod…

Ashen looked at me with a half-grin. I grinned a back.

"What exactly did you do?" He asked, curiosity covering his face and a hint of amusement in his eyes. I shrugged.

"Last night when you guys were asleep, I had Iggy come down and help me put a red Lifesaver in the shower pipe. It was pretty epical." I said. He laughed. "Good one. Never woulda thought of that!" he exclaimed. "That is because you don't have an imagination as big as mine." I stated simply. He nodded and I went to fix the shower head.

**Review? Virtual cookies for all who do!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N- So, in case you guys didn't know, XxBlackEaglexX has started a story of her own. It's called Fireworks in Hollywood. Read it, she's doing really good. Personally, I love it.**

**-MOMENT OF ADVERITISING ENDS-**

**I recently broke my computer chair. The wheel just snapped off, and I swear to grapes that it had **_**nothing at all**_** to do with me leaning back on it all the time. I'm innocent! I am not a chair-breaking kind of girl!**

**DUIUSUCULUAUIUMUEURU!U- We do not own the Maximum Ride characters. Not now, not ever.  
**

Chapter Twenty-One

_written by MissMusic17_

I was so going to kill Rissa for this.

It took forty-five _long_ minutes to scrape the gunk out of my hair alone. The rest of me took another half hour. I was furious at her. I needed revenge.

I got dried off and dressed without really looking at what I was doing. I was planning. After I had finished up, I thanked Max for using her shower, and walked down to our room. Opening the door, I saw Ash lying on the couch, channel surfing, with Rissa nowhere to be seen. He looked up, and seeing me searching for her, explained.

"She went down for breakfast in the lobby with Iggy, Nudge, and Angel."

I nodded. "Good. I need to get her back. Don't tell her, okay?"

"My lips are sealed." He said, grinning.

I grinned my best evil smile, and stole Rissa's beloved MooMoo (her iPod Touch) out of her duffel bag. My hostage. If I get hurt, so does MooMoo, so I'm safe. Now, on to my real revenge. If Rissa was going to do this to me, well, let the prank wars begin!

I went into the bathroom, and grabbed our shampoo bottle. I opened it up and squeezed all the shampoo into the trash, and turned to Ash.

"Hey, do me a favor and make some bright blue hair dye. A lot of it."

He grinned, realizing exactly what I was doing, and his eyes went black, and a second later, I felt the bottle get heavy again as it filled with the dye. I smirked, and stuck it back in the shower.

"Okay, now, all we have to do is make sure Rissa takes first shower." I told him, settling in for a bit of a wait.

* * *

_LATER THAT EVENING…_

What did Gina take me for? An idiot? When it had gotten late, they both said I could take first shower. When I'd sqeezed out the shampoo into my hand, I had noticed that it was bright blue, not clear, and it stained my hand.

I just skipped washing my hair.

When I had gotten out, they were asleep on the bed, probably thinking that I had fallen for their little tricks. But I was the queen of pranks, and so I ran back in there and grabbed the 'shampoo'. I rubbed it into their hair, thanking my lucky stars that they didn't wake up.

Those two would have a big surprise in the morning.

* * *

_THE NEXT MORNING…_

I lazily opened my eyes, not really feeling like waking up, but I did anyway.

I glanced up at Ash, still asleep, a small smile on his face. His shirt was wrinkled from sleeping in it, his beautiful eyes were shut, and his hair was a nice, neon blue. Wait, blue…?

"OH MY GOD RISSA WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO TO HIM?" I screeched, wondering how it had gone wrong but still knowing Rissa was to blame, somehow.

"Good morning sunshine!" she said, smiling at me.

"What. Did. You. Do."

Rissa just grinned. "Well, you didn't really think I was dumb enough to fall for the hair dye, now did you?"

A horrible realization dawned on me, and I grabbed a strand of my hair, held it up to my face, and screeched again. It was blue too.

By now, Ash had been woken up by my yelling, and saw me. He started to laugh, and I slapped him. I was not in the mood for anything funny.

"Look at yourself, we'll see who's laughing then." I told him, effectively shutting him up. Rissa laughed at his face, and called out toward the couch.

"Ain't this great?"

Oh no. Would the horror never end? I looked over at the couch, and yes, the whole other flock, all seven of them, even Dr. M, was sitting and watching us, faces red from holding in laughter, except for the Doctor, who looked upset. We had an audience. I gave them the death glare, and they burst out laughing. Great. My scary face is funny now. At seeing the intensified glare, though, Dr. M offered a peace treaty.

"Why don't we go have some fun today. There's an off road track nearby, you kids could go and do something together that doesn't involve pranking each other."

Oh yeah. Dirt bikes and me have had some fun times together. Bring it on!

"


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N:Heyyyy! What up? Ok then I'm going to give you guys a chapter. I'm bored...really bored...**

**D%I%S%C%L%A%I%M%E%R: We-"we" meaning MissMusic17 and I, XxBlackEaglexX- don't own Maximum Ride. Never have, never will unless we somehow get it from Jimmy Patts. Sadness.**

**Rissa: Hi everyone! Bye...**

**RISSA'S POV**

_Written by XxBlackEaglexX_

Dr. M had the best idea. I can officially say she's one of the coolest people _ever_.

Off-roading is one of the most fun thing ever, well at least I think it is. It comes in second after flying.

Ash and I have been off-roading before, and we both loved it. Gina hadn't went because she had had a really bad nose bleed and told us to go without her. Three hours of mud and yelling later, and we were happy as penguin's sliding down an iceberg on their bellies.

We all filed into the van and went to the place Dr. M had told us about. It was really muddy, but it was perfect. We hopped out of the van and Gina asked about dirtbikes. Ashen told me to check the mud.

I walked over to the beginning of the muddy area and stepped into in, thankful I had worn knee-high rainboots. It went about half-way to my knee. "Nope! I don't think a dirtbike would be a wise choice!" I yelled back to them. I then realized something else..."Uh guys? I'm stuck." I said, trying to pick up my feet, but it only caused my foot to slide up and almost out of my boot. That caused me to almost loose my balance.

Ashen and Iggy walked over, and I grabbed their hands. They yanked me out of the mud, and they landed on their backs with me in the middle of them. I stood up and dusted off my jeans, laughing.

"Alright, Ash! Time to get some cars in here!" I said with glee. He rolled his eyes and two giant jeeps popped up, with four wheeled drive and everything. I immediatly ran over to the electric blue on and hopped into the driver's seat. Finally everyone chose what cars they wanted to go , Ashen, Nudge, Iggy and I all got in my Jeep, and Max, Fang, Angel, and Gazzy all went to the silver one.

We soon were driving around in the mud, yelling with joy and excitement, and maybe fear. With the way I drive, it probably was some-what with fear.

"THIS IS SO FUN! AHHHH!" Yelled Nudge.

"WHY THE HECK DID WE LET_ YOU_ DRIVE, RISSA?" Said Ashen, who was clutching the seat.

"WHOOO!" Was coming out of everyone else's mouth.

About two hours later, we all hopped out of the Jeep's, and Ashen made them disappear. "I don't want to go! That was fun!" Pouted Gazzy. His hair was sticky out everywhere and some mud was splattered on his face, probably from sticking his head out the window while we were driving. Ashen smile and evil smile before picking Gina up and throwing her over his shoulder. She screamed before yelling "I DON'T LIKE THIS VIEW, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" I laughed as I watched Ash and Gina run intop the mud, sinking in it quickly before falling into the sea of brown.

Gazzy quickly glanced at Max before quickly following. He jumped in, and shouted with joy. Angel followed, and Nudge went after her hesitantly. Iggy looked right at me, which is odd considering he's blind. "What are they doing?" He asked. "Mud party!" I shouted before grabbing his hand and dragging him into the mud with me.

I saw Max and Fang look at each other for a split second before Max followed us slowly and hesitantly. I smiled and threw some mud at Iggy, who glared playfully. We had ourt "Mud party!" for about an hour before we decided to go back to the hotel. Ash thought up a hose and we all washed the mud off our clothes before getting many towls and drying off partially. We headed back to the hotel, said our goodnight's, and went to our seperate rooms.

This was one awesome day.

**End Note: Sorry if it's crappy, but I've never really went off-roading. I asked my dad and he gave me the gist of it. It sounds fun! I know it's short, but I had people reading what I type over my shoulder, and I don't like when they do that.**

**Rissa: RnR?**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N- I've been a horrible updater lately. I guess I've just been lazy. After this I really should get back to A Silver Smile…it's been like, weeks. I feel like I abandoned a baby.**

***AHEM AHEM* Anyways, I read Mockingjay! Great book. If you haven't yet, get it. The Hunger Games is awesome. So, this means that the next book on my queue is…*checks clipboard*…ANGEL, coming on March 14, 2011. It's named after the demon…please, let Angel die or something. Pit of lava, acid spitting spiders, anything to get rid of the bratty little control freak.**

**Oh, Yeah, And D7I7S7C7L7A7I7M7E7R7!- We do not own Maximum Ride. I have sent my cannibal elves on a ninja mission to steal the rights from James Patterson, but they have not yet returned. Wish them luck.**

Chapter Twenty-Three

_written by MissMusic17_

Off-roading had been totally awesome! I couldn't believe how fun it was! I hoped we could go again; it was terrific, being able to get muddy and have nobody care.

Of course, the second we got back to the apartment, Max had to go all I'm-in-charge-of-you-so-take-a-shower on us.

I was lying on the bed I shared with Iggy, fiddling with the components for our next bomb. This one was going to be really small. Ig planned on carving out the sole of his shoe and hiding it in there. Max was pretty picky. No bombs, we could all die, blah. We didn't stop, we just got creative at hiding them.

I heard the door creak open, and quickly covered my half-finished bomb with the sheets.

"It's just me." said Angel.

"Oh, okay." I said, uncovering it again and scooting over, so she'd have room to sit with me. "Did you need something?"

She flopped beside me, blonde curls bouncing. "Actually, yeah. You know Rissa?"

I nodded at her, wondering where this was going. What about Rissa?

"Well, Iggy sorta, well, um…likes her."

I raised my eyebrows. "Of course he does, she's really nice and funny. What's not to like?"

Angel shook her head at me. "No, not like that. I mean, _like _likes." Her forehead was all creased up, she was upset and worried about this.

And I have to admit, so was I.

"What the heck? Are you sure? 'Cuz Iggy doesn't like her like that, he'd tell me, and this isn't happening, he would never do that to us! I mean, she's not even part of the Flock or anything, just a-"

"Gazzy, shut up. You're going all Nudge on me."

I blushed. "Sorry, but…Iggy…ugh."

"Yeah, I know. Ugh. We need to do something about it. We can't have him leaving the Flock, or worse, her joining us!"

I grinned my evilest grin. "So, we have to intervene."

* * *

When I woke up, Ashen and Gina weren't here. They probably went down to breakfast already. The hotel gave us free breakfast, so I all but ran down there, starved to death.

Yup, I was right. They were down there, sharing waffles with Iggy, Fang, Max, and Angel. Gazzy and Nudge were late sleepers, and the Doctor was probably off doing some work for the CSM or something. I slid into an empty chair and snatched Gina's plate.

"Good morning sunshine! Didja miss me?" I said, starting on Gina's food.

"We thought you'd sleep through breakfast." said Angel. Gina had started to work on Ash's food, but he really didn't seem to care that much. I rolled my eyes. Those two were such idiots. It wasn't hard. Gina likes Ash. Ash likes Gina. And yet, for some strange reason, they pretended that nothing was going on! Stupid. I loved them, but how blind can they get?

I ate my stolen bacon, silent. Then, Iggy suddenly burst.

"If an ostrich kicked you, would you fall down?"

I laughed. Randoop strikes again! "Well, ostriches are strong enough to kill you."

"So, you'd fall down, right?"

"Yeah, fall down dead!"

He huffed. "I'll take that as a yes."

I let out a huge sigh. Oh Iggy. Where on Earth did that come from? After breakfast, we followed the Flock back to their room, not sure of what we were going to do today.

* * *

We ended up playing Duck Duck Goose. This just proved exactly how bored we were, for six teens and three kids to end up playing Duck Duck Goose. Oh well. At least we were doing _something._

I only voted for us to play this dumb kid game because, well, it was a pretty good excuse to have the others over at our apartment. And Rissa was going around, so I got the pleasure of having her _touch me._ I was estcatic.

So, of course, I missed her yelling "Goose!" until the Flock started to yell at me to get up and chase her. It wasn't really hard; I could hear everybody breathing, and her footsteps. I had the apartment pretty much memorized, so I knew exactly what was going on.

Apparently, she didn't want to take the traditional run around the circle. Rissa wanted to run clear across the apartment. Well, she can run all she wants. That girl was not going to escape my wrath! She will be the next Goose or my name wasn't Iggles McPheeley von Franklin Beverly Rock!

Well, actually, it wasn't. But that sounds a whole lot more dramatic than Iggy.

I chased after her as fast as possible. But I accidentally tripped, on what I have no clue.

And fell right on top of her, pinning Rissa to the ground. Awkward.

So, I decided to get daring.

I leaned closer, pressing against her, and kissed Rissa straight on the lips. Her breathing quickened, and I felt paralyzed.

"You're it." I told her, and kissed her again.

God, I've never felt so alive.


End file.
